[SPOILERS] Lurkers Thread: NO PLAYERS ALLOWED

[Ruff_Hi]

Give each resource two sets of three? All six on one spot is too much of an easy monopoly for whomever holds it.

great idea. I ended up using the blue dots but each happy resource is in a long line and is accessible to 2/3 players.

If you look at the pic with the blue dots, they start at the one near the top right of the red line and then run east (top 2 blue dots, bottom 4, middle) - that is one long line.

Game sent - email me at ruff dot hi at gmail dot com if you want the admin password.

[Cyneheard]

Hmm. This has interesting implications. It suggests that our starts are identical, and that it's the lurker consensus that founding in place might not be a good idea.

He has no idea what he's in for...this should be good.

And FYI: if the lurker consensus is that someone shouldn't found in place given perfect map knowledge, then the map design was wrong.

[Ruff_Hi]

I decided to remove the hut (too much risk that someone jags a great result) so there was no incentive re moving to that hill and seeing the railroads. I didn't want someone's game going down the toilet just because they didn't see the railroads, thus my global suggestion to all players ...

One mapmaker suggestion to all players ... move your scout SE, SE.

At least I have been consistent to all. Actually, had a thought after sending out the game - maybe only 1 scouting unit and then the players have a hard choice between scouting for future city sights and scouting for player contacts. Oh well - too late now.

[Ruff_Hi]

more player speculation ...

It also implies that we start with a scout.

I hope the hunting civs don't start with a warrior.

I see we're last in the turn order, that's too bad. It means we'll have to wait for ages to see our starting position. More importantly, we'll lose every tie.

Hmm, interesting... unless this turns out to be a joke and there is a giant body of water there or something, I should probably do what he says.

Since the save won't be with me for at least a day, it's time for some good, old fashioned OVER-ANALYZING:

I see a couple of possibilities for what lies SE. It is obviously something critical to the game in some sort of way, so it could be a particularly fertile area, or the location of some special resources. OR, something that occurred to me was: what if there is another player immediately SE?! It would certainly fit with the Toroidal wrap; however, Luddite and GES both start with Hunting, so they would both be at a massive disadvantage.

I guess all just have to wait.

[Ruff_Hi]

Also, thought: the lurker thread now has 43 replies. To put it in perspective, the next highest thread is Mardoc and SevenSpirits' with 23 replies, which is understandable given the need for them to communicate. And then the rest of us have only 10 or less.

Now, this indicates most likely a combination of three things:

-There is lively discussion of the leader picks, which ARE pretty unusual, on the whole.

-Ruff posted his map and there was lively discussion/rebalancing going on.

-Ruff posted the map, and it turned out to be totally bat-s*** insane.

In other words, BE PREPARED!


Moogle, thoughts?


Also, I'm going to try to reign in my mindless babble now.

Hey - we haven't discussed the leader / civ selections or put our 2c in about how hopeless this bunch of players are ... who wants to start?

GES: Huayna Capac of the Zulu
Luddite: Isabella of the Aztecs
Amelia: Julius Caesar of Sumeria
Plako: Suleiman of Egypt
Adlain: Hammurabi of the English
Mardoc: Victoria of Korea
Tatan: Shaka of France

[scooter]

My rankings - purely on the quality of the combo - ignoring skill/reputation:

1. GES: Huayna Capac of the Zulu
2. Luddite: Isabella of the Aztecs
3. Mardoc: Victoria of Korea
4. Plako: Suleiman of Egypt
5. Tatan: Shaka of France
6. Amelia: Julius Caesar of Sumeria
7. Adlain: Hammurabi of the English

GES is Financial, has a killer UU, and is going to have his pick at whatever wonder he desires, including the Great Lighthouse, which should be solid as usual on this map. In other words, he will be a factor to win this game so long as he doesn't get dogpiled before he gets out to a good tech lead. I think that's good enough to put him on top. Luddite, Mardoc, and Plako are all quite strong and I could easily swap any of their positions. Tatan's is okay, and the last two combos are pretty underwhelming to me.

[uberfish]

Well the fact that Ruff did the map with input from me should probably make the players suspicious.

On this particular map with its high maintenance, Julius of Sumeria with cheap and very early courthouses might actually be pretty good in REXing and claiming the luxury sites before others can afford to. I'd move that combo up a spot or two. Too bad spying isn't enabled.

[Gaspar]

I was wondering why there was such an exhaustive lurker thread in this PBEM and ours hasn't even had one pop up yet, but having read it, it makes a lot of sense now. That is one crazy map.

Judging by the map, and the leader Civ combos, here's my take:


1. GES: Huayna Capac of the Zulu
2. Amelia: Julius Caesar of Sumeria
3. Luddite: Isabella of the Aztecs
4. Mardoc: Victoria of Korea
5. Adlain: Hammurabi of the English
6. Tatan: Shaka of France
7. Plako: Suleiman of Egypt

I think anyone without ORG or FIN is going to be up against it with those maintenance costs.

However, when I take what I know of each player into account, with the Civ/Map issues:

1. Luddite: Isabella of the Aztecs
2. GES: Huayna Capac of the Zulu
3. Mardoc: Victoria of Korea
4. Plako: Suleiman of Egypt
5. Adlain: Hammurabi of the English
6. Amelia: Julius Caesar of Sumeria
7. Tatan: Shaka of France

Regardless, should be fun.

[Gaspar]

Not to double post, but thus far 3 for 3 in entertaining reactions to Railroads.

[Ruff_Hi]

As Zulus as well we get double movement impis - so the rails may help us even more if a rush is more prudent.

Just for the record, we did all of the mapping without looking at what leaders / civs were selected. My question for the lurkers is that the above assumption is wrong ... isn't it? Railroads give everyone 10 tile movements ... isn't that right?

I didn't check it